Welcome to Healthy Challenge: Week 4!
Just a little recap. So far on this challenge we’ve tried to:
- Cut back on sugar and refined carbohydrates (Week 1)
- Optimize our vitamin D levels (Week 2)
- Improve our gut health and increase our consumption of probiotics (Week 3)
This week’s challenge sounds easy…but it’s actually quite difficult.
This week I want you to go to sleep!
Just in time for back-to-school, I want us to focus on improving our sleep habits.
Did you know that lack of adequate sleep can contribute to:
- obesity
- stunting of your child’s growth
- a weakened immune system
- weakened memory
- even increasing your risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and stroke!
For this week’s challenge, I’d like you to:
- Read this short article about the importance of sleep. I wrote this article with children in mind, but the same information applies to us adults as well!
- Determine how much sleep you (and your children) require each night. Use the chart below to help you determine this.
- Set a bed time- and stick to it!- for each member of your house, based on how much sleep they require.
- Sit down and really think about the things in your life which are preventing you from getting enough sleep. Brainstorm as to how you can improve in these areas. For example…
- too much late night TV or social media usage.
- weekend gatherings which greatly disturb your sleep schedule.
- not enough exercise and sun exposure during the day, etc.
